France progressed to the semi-finals of the Nations League thanks to a dramatic 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory over Croatia.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, second-half goals from Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele saw Les Bleus fight back to level the last-eight tie at the Stade de France in Paris.

Having taken command of the shoot-out when Mike Maignan saved from Martin Baturina and Franjo Ivanovic ballooned over, France saw themselves pegged back when Jules Kounde also blasted over and Theo Hernandez fired high and wide.

But Josip Stanisic was also thwarted by Maignan, allowing Dayot Upamecano to shoot high into the goal and book Didier Deschamps’ men a last-four date with Spain.

France sought to press the issue from the off and William Saliba headed over from Dembele’s left-wing cross before Kylian Mbappe shot wide on the spin from eight yards.

Aurelien Tchouameni flicked a near-post header past the right post and Olise saw penalty shouts waved away by Michael Oliver after tussling with Duje Caleta-Car.

Olise then made the breakthrough with a terrific 20-yard free-kick into the top-right corner in the 52nd minute, before Tchouameni sent another header wide.

Mbappe swept wide after great work from Dembele but the latter made no such error when he brilliantly side-footed home Olise’s centre with 10 minutes of normal time remaining to level the tie.

Desire Doue was kept out from range and Mbappe was denied one on one in extra time as penalties were required to settle the tie.

A back-and-forth shoot-out followed but ultimately it was Maignan who proved the hero, with the Milan goalkeeper keeping out Stanisic and Upamecano keeping his cool to finally send Les Bleus through.

France win on penalties